Augmentative Pharmacological Strategies in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression: A Comprehensive Review

Treatment resistant depression (TRD) is associated with poor outcomes, but a consensus is lacking in the literature regarding which compound represents the best pharmacological augmentation strategy to antidepressants (AD). In the present review, we identify the available literature regarding the pharmacological augmentation to AD in TRD. Research in the main psychiatric databases was performed (PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, PsychInfo). Only original articles in English with the main topic being pharmacological augmentation in TRD and presenting a precise definition of TRD were included. Aripiprazole and lithium were the most investigated molecules, and aripiprazole presented the strongest evidence of efficacy. Moreover, olanzapine, quetiapine, cariprazine, risperidone, and ziprasidone showed positive results but to a lesser extent. Brexpiprazole and intranasal esketamine need further study in real-world practice. Intravenous ketamine presented an evincible AD effect in the short-term. The efficacy of adjunctive ADs, antiepileptic drugs, psychostimulants, pramipexole, ropinirole, acetyl-salicylic acid, metyrapone, reserpine, testosterone, T3/T4, naltrexone, SAMe, and zinc cannot be precisely estimated in light of the limited available data. Studies on lamotrigine and pindolol reported negative results. According to our results, aripiprazole and lithium may be considered by clinicians as potential effective augmentative strategies in TRD, although the data regarding lithium are somewhat controversial. Reliable conclusions about the other molecules cannot be drawn. Further controlled comparative studies, standardized in terms of design, doses, and duration of the augmentative treatments, are needed to formulate definitive conclusions.     

Processing and Mechanical Properties of Ti3SiC2: II, Effect of Grain Size and Deformation Temperature

In this article, the second part of a two-part study, we report on the mechanical behavior of Ti₃SiC₂. In particular, we have evaluated the mechanical response of fine-grained (3–5 μm) Ti₃SiC₂ in simple compression and flexure tests, and we have compared the results with those of coarse-grained (100–200 μm) Ti₃SiC₂. These tests have been conducted in the 25°–1300°C temperature range. At ambient temperature, the fine- and coarse-grained microstructures exhibit excellent damage-tolerant properties. In both cases, failure is brittle up to ∼1200°C. At 1300°C, both microstructures exhibit plastic deformation (>20%) in flexure and compression. The fine-grained material exhibits higher strength compared with the coarse-grained material at all temperatures. Although the coarse-grained material is not susceptible to thermal shock (up to 1400°C), the fine-grained material thermally shocks gradually between 750° and 1000°C. The results presented herein provide evidence for two important aspects of the mechanical behavior of Ti₃SiC₂: (i) inelastic deformation entails basal slip and damage formation in the form of voids, grain-boundary cracks, kinking, and delamination of individual grains, and (ii) the initiation of damage does not result in catastrophic failure, because Ti₃SiC₂ can confine the spatial extent of the damage.     

Moisture adsorption isotherms of two esterified Greek hardwoods

Two Greek hardwoods (Ulmus montana and Acer pseudoplatanus), were esterified with acetic and maleic anhydride and studied for moisture adsorption behaviour. The sorption isotherms for untreated and chemically modified wood were analysed using the Hailwood-Horrobin model. The experimental analysis of the sorption isotherms showed that esterification affects both total, polymolecular and monomolecular sorption. Acetic anhydride treatment was found more effective in reducing the hygroscopicity of wood compared to maleic anhydride treatment at comparable weight percentage gain, reflecting probably the strong ester bonds between acetic anhydride and wood. Identical e.m.c values were attained in both types of sorption for maple and elm wood, at comparable weight percentage gain, not only for the unmodified samples but for the modified ones as well.

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Sorptionsisothermen von zwei veresterten griechischen Laubhölzern

Zusammenfassung Zwei griechische Laubhölzer (Ulmus montana und Acer pseudoplatanus) wurden mit Acet- und Maleinanhydrid verestert und ihr Feuchte-Sorptionsverhalten untsersucht. Die Sorptionsisothermen der unbehandelten und chemisch behandelten Proben wurden mittels des Hailwood-Horrobin-Modells analysiert. Es zeigte sich, dass die Veresterung sowohl die polymolekulare als auch die monomolekulare Sorption beeinflusst. Die Behandlung mit Acetanhydrid war bei vergleichbarem Massenzuwachs effektiver als mit Maleinanhydrid bezüglich des Erniedrigens der hygroskopischen Eigenschaft, was wahrscheinlich mit den starken Esterbindungen zwischen Holz und Acetanhydrid zusammenhängt. Die Gleichgewichtsfeuchten waren bei vergleichbaren Gewichtszunahmen für beide Holzarten und beide Soptionstypen identisch, und zwar nicht nur für die unbehandelten, sondern auch für die modifizierten Proben.

     

An Updated Review of Meat Authenticity Methods and Applications

Adulteration of foods is a serious economic problem concerning most foodstuffs, and in particular meat products. Since high-priced meat demand premium prices, producers of meat-based products might be tempted to blend these products with lower cost meat. Moreover, the labeled meat contents may not be met. Both types of adulteration are difficult to detect and lead to deterioration of product quality. For the consumer, it is of outmost importance to guarantee both authenticity and compliance with product labeling. The purpose of this article is to review the state of the art of meat authenticity with analytical and immunochemical methods with the focus on the issue of geographic origin and sensory characteristics. This review is also intended to provide an overview of the various currently applied statistical analyses (multivariate analysis (MAV), such as principal component analysis, discriminant analysis, cluster analysis, etc.) and their effectiveness for meat authenticity.     

Conductive Polymer-Coated 3D Printed Microneedles: Biocompatible Platforms for Minimally Invasive Biosensing Interfaces

Conductive polymeric microneedle (MN) arrays as biointerface materials show promise for the minimally invasive monitoring of analytes in biodevices and wearables. There is increasing interest in microneedles as electrodes for biosensing, but efforts have been limited to metallic substrates, which lack biological stability and are associated with high manufacturing costs and laborious fabrication methods, which create translational barriers. In this work, additive manufacturing, which provides the user with design flexibility and upscale manufacturing, is employed to fabricate acrylic-based microneedle devices. These microneedle devices are used as platforms to produce intrinsically-conductive, polymer-based surfaces based on polypyrrole (PPy) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). These entirely polymer-based solid microneedle arrays act as dry conductive electrodes while omitting the requirement of a metallic seed layer. Two distinct coating methods of 3D-printed solid microneedles, in situ polymerization and drop casting, enable conductive functionality. The microneedle arrays penetrate ex vivo porcine skin grafts without compromising conductivity or microneedle morphology and demonstrate coating durability over multiple penetration cycles. The non-cytotoxic nature of the conductive microneedles is evaluated using human fibroblast cells. The proposed fabrication strategy offers a compelling approach to manufacturing polymer-based conductive microneedle surfaces that can be further exploited as platforms for biosensing.     

Hypoxia and flow perfusion modulate proliferation and gene expression of articular chondrocytes on porous scaffolds

The combination of reduced oxygen tension and flow perfusion bioreactor culture is investigated for its effect on the proliferation, glycosaminoglycan production, and chondrogenic gene expression of bovine articular chondrocytes on porous polymer scaffolds. It was hypothesized that the combination of such factors would more closely replicate the in situ environment of these cells, leading to improvements in the cell phenotype. Chondrocytes were seeded onto electrospun poly(ε‐caprolactone) scaffolds and cultured in static or perfusion culture in either normoxic or hypoxic conditions for 6days. Results demonstrated that the combination of hypoxic and perfusion culture led to an increase in chondrocyte proliferation and glycosaminoglycan production, as well as an improvement in the ratio of collagen II/I gene expression over perfusion culture alone. The results demonstrate the need to combine multiple signals in vitro, in order to improve tissue growth by more closely replicating the native environment of cells. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 3158–3166, 2013     

Thermoreversible gelation in poly(ethylene oxide)/carbon black hybrid melts

The study focuses on the structure and viscoelasticity of poly(ethylene oxide)/carbon black fluids. The hybrids when subjected to extreme thermal annealing (at temperatures far above the melting point of the matrix) exhibit a 3–4 orders of magnitude increase in viscosity. Surprisingly, the effect is reversible and the viscosity reverts back to its initial value upon subsequent cooling. This rather unique sol–gel transition in terms of strength, steepness and thermal reversibility points to major structural rearrangements via extensive particle clustering, in agreement with microscopy observations. In related systems it was found that when matrix-particle electrostatic interactions are present the gelation is essentially diminished.     

Residual Stress Fields at the Surface of Sharp Pyramid Indentations

This paper describes an experimental measurement of the residual stress field around Berkovich and Knoop indentations on the surface of soda-lime glass. The isostress contours of both the residual tensile and compressive stress are presented. The results are compared with similar measurements around Vickers indentations on the same glass. The residual stress field around all three different shapes of indentations is clearly nonequal biaxial, with characteristic differences in the form of the stress contours that relate to each specific shape. The results for Berkovich indentation are compared with finite element (FEM) numerical calculations. Some general conclusions related to the sharp indentations are deduced from this study.     

Boundary Labeling with Octilinear Leaders

An illustration with textual labels may be hard to read if the labels overlap parts of the illustration. Boundary labeling addresses this problem by attaching the labels to the boundary of a rectangle that contains all features. Then, each feature should be connected to its associated label through a polygonal line, called leader, such that no two leaders intersect.